The Economist - 03.14.2020

46 TheEconomistMarch 14th 2020

1

G

iovambattista presti, a psychologist

at the Kore University of Enna in Sicily,

is an adviser to the Policlinico, Milan’s old-

est hospital, which is at the centre of Italy’s

covid-19 epidemic. Of great concern now,

says Mr Presti, is staff burnout. He is partic-

ularly worried about post-traumatic stress

disorder among some medics. If hospitals

reach the point at which they no longer

have the capacity to treat every patient,

some of them “will be forced to decide who

should go into intensive care and who

should be left to die”.

Similar accounts are emerging else-

where. Daniele Macchini is a doctor at the

Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in nearby

Bergamo. It has been overwhelmed by co-

vid-19 patients. “Cases are multiplying. We

are getting 15-20 admissions a day,” he

wrote on Facebook. “The results of the

swabs come in one after another: positive,

positive, positive. All of a sudden, accident

and emergency is collapsing.” Nurses, he

added, have been reduced to tears “because

we cannot save everyone”.

These reports are coming out of Lom-

bardy, a wealthy region whose health ser-

vice is judged to be among the best in a

country that last year came second in Eu-

rope in a health-care efficiency ranking by

Bloomberg. On March 10th Antonio Pe-

senti, the intensive-care co-ordinator for

Lombardy’s crisis unit, told journalists that

the region’s health system was “one step

from collapse”.

Italy’s epidemic, which is still concen-

trated in Lombardy, spread rapidly. On Feb-

ruary 25th the country’s health authorities

had detected 322 cases of covid-19. Two

weeks later that number had passed

10,000. Deaths have risen even more steep-

ly as the virus, which is disproportionally

lethal to the elderly, has attacked Europe’s

oldest population. By March 11th, more

than 800 of those infected had died.

The crisis in Italy is sending shivers

down spines in Europe and America. In

many countries the number of cases being

detected is rising on a trajectory that will

soon bring them to the point at which Italy

currently finds itself (see chart on final

page). Governments elsewhere are watch-

ing to see whether Italy’s efforts slow its

epidemic, spreading infections out over

time and giving its hospitals some breath-

ing room.

On March 8th the Italian government

imposed nationwide curbs on large gather-

ings. Big weddings and funerals were

banned; museums, cinemas and theatres

were closed. Nationwide travel restrictions

followed a day later. Italians are not al-

lowed to leave—or travel within—the cities

and towns where they live, except for work

or emergencies. Restaurants, bars and all

shops except foodstores and pharmacies

were told to close entirely from March 12th.

Europe has not seen controls on this scale

since the second world war.

Other European countries have, for the

moment, opted for less restrictive mea-

sures. Like Italy, several countries includ-

ing France, Spain and Greece have closed

schools and universities. Some have

banned big public gatherings. In America

variations on these themes are being im-

posed at county or state level. A growing

number of universities, including Harvard

and Princeton, are switching to remote

teaching or simply sending their students

Covid-19

All’italiana

ROME AND SEOUL

Italy has imposed a nationwide lockdown. Should other countries copy it?

International

48 Covid-19fatalityrates

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